Deck 4: Acting

Question 1

Which of the following is NOT one of the responsibilities of a performer in the theatre?

A) to create and project the inner life of the character
B) to move onstage with ease and authority
C) to interact with other performers onstage
D) to create an attractive stage picture through movement and gesture

Answer 1

to create an attractive stage picture through movement and gesture

Question 2

Acquiring the special physical and vocal skills that stage performance demands is an ________ aspect of acting.

A) internal
B) external

Answer 2

external

Question 3

Learning how to make the feelings and emotions of the characters portrayed believable is an ________ aspect of acting.

A) internal
B) external

Answer 3

internal

Question 4

In order to throw the voice into the audience so that it penetrates to the uttermost reaches of the theatre, the performer must

A) develop a strong through line.
B) utilize the "magic if."
C) project.
D) face forward at all times.

Question 5

________ devised a system that could be taught to others for achieving the kind of believability demanded by the new realistic drama being written in the late nineteenth century.

A) David Garrick
B) Konstantin Stanislavsky
C) François Delsarte
D) Henrik Ibsen

Question 6

In America, the interpretation of Stanislavsky's ideas by Lee Strasberg at the Actor's Studio has caused controversy, because many people feel that he emphasized

A) projection to the exclusion of inner truth.
B) gesture as a means of discovering character.
C) rhetorical delivery of the lines of the play.
D) he emotional side of Stanislavsky's technique.

Question 7

When the performers combine the inner and the outer aspects of acting in a forceful and convincing way, they have used a process known as

A) integration.
B) the "magic if."
C) circle of attention.
D) through line.

Question 8

Regardless of the level of intellectual study and training, it is important for actors to prepare before taking the stage often through various exercises such as

A) physical tension and relaxation exercises.
B) simple movement exercises.
C) various vocal exercises.
D) All of these answers are correct.

Question 9

Which of the following should an actor try to avoid if he or she is trying to connect meaningfully with the audience?

A) an intensity of both focus and physical action
B) to appear fully absorbed in the life of the character
C) create a performance based on honest/believable human reactions
D) make certain that all character actions and vocal work are exaggerated

Question 10

Which one of the following is NOT one of Stanislavsky's four broad aims of actor training?

A) to make outward behavior (gestures, voice, and rhythm) natural and convincing
B) to have the actors convey the inner needs of a character
C) to make the life of the character on stage not only dynamic but continuous as well
D) to make certain that an actor focuses on the character's inner life by excluding focus on anything else while on stage

Question 11

When one person mimics or copies another's vocal patterns, gestures, facial expressions, posture, and the like, this is called

A) willing suspension of disbelief.
B) an anachronism.
C) role playing.
D) imitation.

Question 12

General roles recognized by society, such as father, mother, child, police officer, store clerk, teacher, student, business executive, and so on are called

A) stereotypes.
B) social roles.
C) personal roles.
D) psychological masks.

Question 13

When children use imitation, it is often a way of

A) learning.
B) misbehaving.
C) dominating.
D) None of these answers is correct.

Question 14

Roles that we assume with our family and friends, such as being a braggart, a martyr, a conspirator, and so on, are called

A) stereotypes.
B) social roles.
C) personal roles.
D) psychological masks.

Question 15

One of the differences between acting in daily life and acting in theatre is that actors and actresses are always being

A) observed.
B) corrected.
C) distracted.
D) criticized.

Question 16

When a performer is required to play several roles in the same play, this is called

A) duplication.
B) masking.
C) doubling.
D) impersonation.

Question 17

Performers would often speak toward the audience during this period, rather than to the character they were addressing on stage, since the theatres were lit as well as the stage and the actors wanted hold on to the audience's attention.

A) Greek theatre
B) Asian theatre
C) Renaissance theatre
D) seventeenth-century French theatre
E) eighteenth- and nineteenth-century English theatre

Question 18

Acting alternated between exaggerated and more natural styles in

A) Greek theatre.
B) Asian theatre.
C) Renaissance theatre.
D) seventeenth-century French theatre.
E) eighteenth- and nineteenth-century English theatre.

Question 19

________ had a chorus that sang and danced odes.

A) Greek theatre
B) Asian theatre
C) Renaissance theatre
D) Seventeenth-century French theatre
E) Eighteenth- and nineteenth-century English theatre

Question 20

Performers wore heavy make-up, elaborate costumes and employed stylized movement in which period?

A) Greek theatre
B) Asian theatre
C) Renaissance theatre
D) seventeenth-century French theatre
E) eighteenth- and nineteenth-century English theatre

Question 21

What does Shakespeare's Hamlet mean when he says the following? "Speak the speech, I pray you, as I pronounced it to you, trippingly on the tongue; but if you mouth it, as many of your players do, I had as lief the town crier spoke my lines."

A) "I want you players to speak loudly and clearly and overemphasize your words just like a town crier."
B) "I want you to pronounce your words just like a town crier would pronounce these words."
C) "I would rather have you speak honestly and believably than just shouting the lines out loud."
D) None of these answers is correct.

Question 22

What does Shakespeare's Hamlet mean when he says the following? "Be not too tame neither, but let your discretion be your tutor: suit the action to the word, the word to the action; with this special observance, that you o'erstep not the modesty of nature."

A) "When you gesture and speak, please try to match the emotion of the words with your gesture."
B) "Don't hold yourselves completely still as you talk, but try to gesture naturally as you speak."
C) "We want our audience to believe in these characters as if they were real people."
D) All of these answers are correct.

Question 23

These puppets are silhouette figures-often made of leather-and are highlighted on a screen that is lit from behind.

A) marionettes
B) shadow puppets
C) bunraku
D) hand puppets

Question 24

Roughly two-thirds life-size, this puppet requires three performers to operate it.

A) marionettes
B) shadow puppets
C) bunraku
D) hand puppets

Question 25

In order to prepare a role properly, the actor or actress should always begin with an outer aspect-a walk, a posture, a peculiar vocal delivery-and then develop the inner life of the character.

Question 26

Even more contemporary actor training methods based on the books/teachings of Uta Hagen, Robert Cohen, Robert Benedetti, Sanford Meisner, and Stella Adler, to name a few, are still based on essential training methods introduced by Stanislavsky around the turn of the twentieth century.

Question 27

Great actors are often set apart by less tangible qualities such as a personal charisma or charm, or star quality, or a personal presence that captures an audience's attention and allows an actor to communicate directly or even kinetically with an audience.

Question 28

Although it may be fun and exciting, circus training and clowning or juggling are not valuable forms of training for actors to use in their theatre work.

Question 29

Training in tai chi chuan can be valuable for an actor, as it serves as an excellent focused exercise for an actor's body awareness and, due to the graceful nature of the core regimen of movement, it also serves as a form of meditation to help the actor prepare.

Question 30

Asian theatre training and the type of actor training that is common in the U.S. are virtually the same kind of training, focusing on the same kind of movement and vocal performance styles.

Question 31

Lee Strasberg, who headed the Actor's Studio training in New York City for many years, established a style of training known as emotional recall that particularly emphasized a technique for prompting actor emotions that was almost identical to the method that Stanislavsky used later in his career.

Question 32

Although every actor needs to work on both inner and outer aspects of acting, it is best to develop all of the inner aspects of character development first that will allow the actor to more easily develop the physical movement and vocal aspects of the character.

Question 33

Each of us fills only one social role.

Question 34

Once a society determines the characteristics of a social role, these characteristics cannot be changed.

Question 35

Throughout theatre history, regardless of the predominant acting style of the day, the actors that were singled out as being the greatest of their generation were always those actors who made certain to overemphasize their emotions with excessive physical movement.

Question 36

The remembering of a past emotional experience in the performer's life that is similar to the emotion he or she must attain in the play is called ________.

Question 37

Concentration on some object, person, or event while onstage is called ________.

Question 38

The internal or subjective world of the characters is the ________.

Question 39

The elimination of unwanted tension is called ________.

Question 40

What the character wants above all else during the course of the play is the ________.

Question 41

________ is especially important in plays where interaction between characters is crucial.

Question 42

Imagining how the performer would feel in a particular situation is called the "________."

Question 43

Stanislavsky believed in the ________; he placed emphasis on concrete details in a performance.

Question 44

The units of action into which each scene is divided are sometimes called ________.

Question 45

Purposeful action performed as a result of given circumstances that leads to an emotion is called ________.

Question 46

The actor's process of combining the inner approach to acting, truthfulness and believability, with physical training into a single whole is called _____________________.

Question 47

This type of puppet figure is the most familiar and popular to Western audiences.

Question 48

Stanislavski developed this technique of purposeful acting in which action is the key to the most direct route to the emotions.

Question 49

List examples of imitation, mimicry, and role-playing found in personal experience.

Question 50

In the United States, sports figures are seen as role models for young people and are expected to maintain certain standards of behavior-in some instances, perhaps higher standards than those expected of other people. Does this mean that sports figures are in some sense actors and actresses? Discuss.

Question 51

While acting is prevalent in real life, there are times when such role-playing is not acceptable. Discuss such instances. Is it possible to not play roles? How?

Question 52

Throughout history, performers have been revered and reviled. What is the contemporary attitude toward them? Are they seen as different from other people? In what way?

Question 53

If children use imitation and role-playing as a way of learning, what effect does what they see in popular entertainment have on their development? At what point, if any, do these effects diminish? In a society such as ours, which is flooded with images from popular entertainment, how can children be shielded from negative ideas? Should they be shielded?

Question 54

The Greek word for actor is "hypokrite,"
the source of the English word "hypocrite."
Look the term up in the dictionary. Is role-playing in real life hypocritical? Are actors not to be trusted because they are capable of mimicking emotions at will?

Question 55

Carefully examine a role in a play or film, following it from beginning to end. Note the special requirements the performance of this role demands.

Question 56

Analyze in detail a three-dimensional character from a play by one of the following dramatists: lbsen, Strindberg, Chekhov, Williams, or O'Neill. What does the character want? How does the character try to get what he or she wants? What social roles does this character play? Personal roles? What aspects of personality help the character in attaining goals? What aspects hinder the attainment of goals?

Question 57

An example of the need to integrate the inner and the outer aspects of acting is what occurs during a stage fight. Discuss the control that is necessary in order to make certain that the performers are not injured, while at the same time experiencing the emotions of the character.

Question 58

Discuss "believability."
What are its characteristics? Does believability depend upon the circumstances and style of a production as a whole? Discuss different levels of "exaggeration"
in contemporary television shows and films. How does exaggeration relate to believability? For instance, examine Ian McKellen's interpretation of Gandalf in The Lord of the Rings. Is he believable as a character? Is he realistic?

Question 59

In some types of theatre, the characters onstage are aware of the audience's presence and speak directly to the audience in soliloquies and asides. Does this affect their believability? Why or why not?

Question 60

The work of Lee Strasberg at the Actors Studio emphasized the emotional side of acting over the physical and vocal. Many of his most famous pupils were film and television stars. Discuss why his approach to Stanislavsky's ideas may have been beneficial for film and television.

Question 61

A long and rich history of puppet forms and theatrical traditions have emerged independently of each other in various cultures around the world. Although quite different, discuss those qualities that are shared among bunraku puppet, shadow puppets and hand puppets.